Patient's question:
The daughter is 4 years old. Two days ago, she had severe canker sores, suspected to be hand, foot, and mouth disease. Yesterday, after a nap, she had a fever of 38.5°C and her temperature returned to normal after intravenous fluids. Today, after morning intravenous fluids, she slept from 4 PM to 6 PM and then woke up with a fever of 38.5°C, accompanied by a headache. Could this be encephalitis or meningitis?Doctor's answer:
The oral mucosal rash of hand, foot, and mouth disease is characterized by scattered vesicles or ulcers. Most of them are located in the pharyngeal wall, tongue, and labial mucosa. It can cause pain in the mouth. At the same time, hand, foot, and mouth disease primarily manifests as maculopapular and vesicular lesions on the hands, feet, and oral mucosa. In contrast, canker sores only occur inside the mouth. They appear as single or clustered small vesicles on the gums, buccal mucosa, tongue, and hard palate. When the vesicles rupture, they form small ulcers, which can merge to form larger ulcers. Canker sores do not appear on other parts of the body, such as the hands and feet.